The experience of Perfection is subjective. The Vedantic seers of Hindu Scriptures are unanimous in their conclusion that a subjective quest is the “path” to rediscover and ultimately realise the Self. In this chapter, we find a beautiful philosophical dissection of the subjective structure of man, exposing the matter envelopments that condition the Spirit. A discriminative knowledge of the matter layers, as distinct from the “Spiritual-Core,” will show the seeker the way to rediscover his identity with the Spirit, and realise the actual non-existence of matter, when viewed from the realm of the Spirit.

A “waker” in a certain mental frame-work, himself becomes a “dreamer,” and, to the “dreamer” the dream is real as long as the dream continues. But on awakening, the “dreamer” realises that the dream was only a misinterpretation of the waking, rendered by the “dreamer’s” own mind. Similarly, the pluralistic world is perceived when the Spirit views through its own imaginary world of matter, and on awakening to Its own spiritual status it rediscovers Its own Absolute Reality in which the “phantom” of matter has no existence at all.

Thus, in a living man, philosophically viewed, there are two aspects: the inert and insentient matter-layers, and the sentient and vital Consciousness. These two aspects are defined in this stanza.

THIS BODY O! SON OF KUNTI, IS CALLED THE FIELD — In this mechanical age, it is very easy to understand that there must be a ‘field’ for energy to play in, and that, then alone it can manifest as work done and serve man. Steam-energy cannot be resolved into locomotion unless it is made to pass through a steam-engine. Electricity cannot give us breeze unless it passes through the machine of a fan. The equipments (or assembly of matter layers), through which Life passes when an individuality is expressed, are defined here by Krishna as the “Field.”

HE WHO KNOWS IT, IS CALLED THE “KNOWER-OF-THE-FIELD” — This field is made up of lifeless matter, the minerals. And yet, as long as it lives and functions, it KNOWS. This “principle-of-knowing,” functioning in the “field” is the “enjoyer-of-the-field;” the “knower,” the EGO.

As long as life exists in any living organism, it expresses an urge to know. The degree of this urge may vary from individual to individual in the Universe. But the urge to know, expressed through an equipment, is what we recognise as its life. The capacity of an organism to receive stimuli and send forth responses is the transaction of life, and when this “knower” — the individuality, has departed from the equipment, we consider it as dead. This is the “Knower-of-the-Field” (Kshetrajna).

BY THOSE WHO KNOW OF THEM — Here, Lord Krishna has assured his listeners that the definitions given by him to the terms “body” and the “knower-of-the-body” are not arbitrary declarations or hypothetical suppositions, but are in keeping with the actual experiences of all the great Masters of yore. In short, here we have a definition of matter (Kshetra) and the Spirit functioning through it (Kshetrajna). The entire world-of-objects constitutes the kingdom of matter; and the vital knower of the world-of-matter, constituted of the equipments and their array of perceptions, feelings and thoughts, is the Spirit.

IS THIS ALL THE KNOWLEDGE THAT ONE HAS TO ACQUIRE ABOUT THEM? — NO, — LISTEN:

0 Viddhi, know; ubhau, both; prakrtim Nature; and also the purusam, individual soul;-these two; Nature and the soul. the aspects of God-to be api, verily; anadi, without beginning. Those two that have no beginning (adi), are anadi. Since the godhood of God is eternal, therefore it is logical that even His aspects also should have eternality. For God’s god-hood consists verily in having the two aspects. Those two aspects through which God becomes the cause of creation, continuance and dissolution of the Universe, and which are beginningless, are the sources of mundane existence. Some interpret the phrase anadi in the tatpurusa [Tatpurusa: Name of a class of compounds in which the first member determines the sense of the other members, or in which the last member is defined or qualified by the first, without losing its original independence.-V.S.A.] sense of na adi, not primeval (not cause). (According to them) thereby indeed is established the causality of God. Again, if Nature and soul themselves be eternal, the mundane existence would surely be their creation, and the causality of the mundane existence would not be God’s. That is wrong because, there being nothing to rule over before the emergence of Nature and soul, there will arise the contingency of God ceasing to be God! And if the mundane state be uncaused [Uncaused, i.e. not caused by Nature and soul, but by God independently of those two aspects.] there arises the contingency of the absence of Liberation, [If God were. Himself the sole cause of mundane existence, independently of His two aspects, then it would be endless because there would be nothing to prevent liberated souls from being put under bondage again.] the scriptures becoming useless, and the absence of bondage and freedom. On the other hand, all these become justifiable if God and the two aspects be eternal. How? Viddhi, know; the vikaran, modifications that will be spoken of-the intellect etc., the body and the organs; ca eva, as also; gunan, the qualities (sattva etc.)-manifest in the form of the mental states of happiness, sorrow and attachment; as prakriti-sambhavan, born of Nature. Nature, Maya, is the power of God, which is the cause of the modifications and which consists of the three qualities. Those modifications and qualities, which have that Nature as their source,-know those modifications and qualities as ‘born of Nature’, as transformations of Nature. Which again, are those modifications and qualities born of Nature?